RIP Jake Crouthamel | Syracusefan.com

RIP Jake Crouthamel

RIP Jake. He was AD during some really great years. One thing I always remember reading from some board members is how he would take the time to thoughtfully respond to fans who wrote to him, even if it was critical.
 
Sad to hear. When I was a student on the Hill in the early 2000's I was thinking about getting into sports management because what 20yr old sports junkie wouldn't want to do that kind of work. So I called the Athletics Department to see if i could try and speak with someone about this potential career path. My call rang though to the secretary who told me to hold on for a min, upon her return I was shocked to hear that i had a meeting scheduled later that week with Jake Crouthamel. Jake C ended up taking 45 min of his weekday to chat with me about the work, the field, its challenges and what it takes to get into that field, etc. He was very honest, but kind, and definitely a no nonsense type of guy. Looking back I still admire him for taking that time to speak to some random nobody of student with out even a hesitation. Jake had his ups and downs and I may not have agreed with all of his decisions as an AD but I forever will respect the hell out of that man for who he was and what he did for me. RIP.
 
28 years of service to our favorite school, a period when we went from having to be described as "Syracuse, New York" in the national media to being "the Cuse". He had a great deal to do with that.
 
Janner said:
Sad to hear. When I was a student on the Hill in the early 2000's I was thinking about getting into sports management because what 20yr old sports junkie wouldn't want to do that kind of work. So I called the Athletics Department to see if i could try and speak with someone about this potential career path. My call rang though to the secretary who told me to hold on for a min, upon her return I was shocked to hear that i had a meeting scheduled later that week with Jake Crouthamel. Jake C ended up taking 45 min of his weekday to chat with me about the work, the field, its challenges and what it takes to get into that field, etc. He was very honest, but kind, and definitely a no nonsense type of guy. Looking back I still admire him for taking that time to speak to some random nobody of student with out even a hesitation. Jake had his ups and downs and I may not have agreed with all of his decisions as an AD but I forever will respect the hell out of that man for who he was and what he did for me. RIP.
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great story
 
Janner said:
Sad to hear. When I was a student on the Hill in the early 2000's I was thinking about getting into sports management because what 20yr old sports junkie wouldn't want to do that kind of work. So I called the Athletics Department to see if i could try and speak with someone about this potential career path. My call rang though to the secretary who told me to hold on for a min, upon her return I was shocked to hear that i had a meeting scheduled later that week with Jake Crouthamel. Jake C ended up taking 45 min of his weekday to chat with me about the work, the field, its challenges and what it takes to get into that field, etc. He was very honest, but kind, and definitely a no nonsense type of guy. Looking back I still admire him for taking that time to speak to some random nobody of student with out even a hesitation. Jake had his ups and downs and I may not have agreed with all of his decisions as an AD but I forever will respect the hell out of that man for who he was and what he did for me. RIP.
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Not surprised at all. So many stories like this. Class act. He’d still happily have these convos later in life from what I heard too. He was always the same consummate pro. Very few like him.
 
At the end of his tenure, he was badly treated by the new Cantor/Gross administration.

He did an interview with WCNY in 2002(?) where he admitted his shortcoming as a schmoozer and glad-hander. He said the next AD had to be better at PR than he had been.

I guess Darryl Gross met that description.
 
Janner said:
Sad to hear. When I was a student on the Hill in the early 2000's I was thinking about getting into sports management because what 20yr old sports junkie wouldn't want to do that kind of work. So I called the Athletics Department to see if i could try and speak with someone about this potential career path. My call rang though to the secretary who told me to hold on for a min, upon her return I was shocked to hear that i had a meeting scheduled later that week with Jake Crouthamel. Jake C ended up taking 45 min of his weekday to chat with me about the work, the field, its challenges and what it takes to get into that field, etc. He was very honest, but kind, and definitely a no nonsense type of guy. Looking back I still admire him for taking that time to speak to some random nobody of student with out even a hesitation. Jake had his ups and downs and I may not have agreed with all of his decisions as an AD but I forever will respect the hell out of that man for who he was and what he did for me. RIP.
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That is a great story. Thanks for sharing.
 
Scooch said:
Oh man, terrible news.

Jake was a titanic figure in the history of SU athletics. His legacy still looms large.
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So true.

You think about where Syracuse was in 1977, when he took over.

Manley had just been expanded to just under 9600 seats. We had a regional program for basketball. Jim Boeheim had just been hired and the future for basketball was cloudy. The NCAA was systemically reducing at large bids available to Eastern independents, forcing them to play the top teams against each other at the end of the season in ECAC tournaments for a single bid. Syracuse was close to getting shut out of the NCAA tournament completely.

The football team was playing in Archbold Stadium, which was close to being condemned. It had fallen into awful condition, and was down to about 25K capacity, at the same time our competitors were building new faculties or expanding existing ones.

We were far behind our competitors in things like practice facilities, weight rooms, budgets and fan interest. The only bright spot was interest in men’s basketball was high.

Things like the Carrier Dome, a new state of the art facility for basketball and football, were only a dream. As was the Big East conference, which would quickly develop into the best basketball conference in America. Down the road, it would also become a premiere football conference.

Who could dream that we would routinely set attendance records for basketball, get the football program to a place where bowl games became a routine and we would even go to 3 Final Fours, and win a national championship in basketball?

Jake didn’t do it all himself but he was there, a big part of all of this.

All the while, approachable, accommodating and considerate.

He was a special man. Condolences to his friends and family.
 
I may have told this story before but I was the wolf in a protest during WVU parents weekend 1996. Otto the Oranges put me in bodybag at the 50 and it was a spectacle.

Long story short the event really really angered the SU AD and I had to go to the dome following Monday and meet w Jake, Pat Campbell etc. Jake stared at me w those piercing eyes. I thought he was going to initiate expulsion. He was mad as hell.

He listened to me, why we thought the mascot change was stupid and he leaned back, arms folded behind his head. He told me firmly to never pull that stunt again and that was it. We would run into each other at the liberty bowl and various athletic events (remember seeing him and his wife at soccer games. Him smoking as usual).

There’s no grand conclusion to the story. They didn’t change the mascot and frankly that was because the students spoke via the DO/poll. I always liked Jake because he ruled the AD like an adult with zero pomp. He just did his job. If I was Jake I would done same to me being older and wiser now. Kids are stupid and I was too. I still think the wolf was dumb

Later on I would spend summers on the cape and always wore my orange gear near my home in Osterville (next to center ville where he lived). Never ran into him but hoped to see the smoking man acknowledge my orange gear.

Prayers to Jake’s family. Syracuse is at its best when a guy like Jake ran the show.
 
Very sad news.

First met him as a senior in high school at a rotary club luncheon for national honor society (yes, I used to be smart before I discovered alcohol). He was the guest speaker, and since I was going to SU, he spent more time talking to me than the other students :)

Then was fortunate to meet him again, thanks to cto. Introduced me to him a few times, even took me into his suite on a wild Champs Bowl night in 2004. No one was more into the games than him, he was very polite, but very focused on the game.

I exchanged many emails with him over the years and even though we didn't always agree, he always wrote me long, thought out responses. He replied to every single one I sent.

RIP, he was a good man, and a great AD. He knew toward the end that the game was changing and that we were going to have some struggles in the new world order.
 
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